Chapitre Deux: In which KK goes to Provence and a miracle occurs.

 

Photo courtesey of Callie Feingold

As promised, I spent a lovely weekend in Provence with my fellow Swarthmore-in-Grenoble-ians.  Also as promised, I charged my camera properly to ensure I would be able to take a plentitude of pictures for your viewing pleasure.  With my camera ready to go and my backpack full, I boarded the bus (oddly called an autocar in french) and we went on our way.

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Provence is south of Grenoble and is known for its beautiful scenery and lavender - and boy do they love their lavender.  We stayed in maisonettes, little houses one could rent for a family vacation, etc., and the one I stayed in reeked of lavender.  I suppose it was nice, but I'm sure I would have been alright if I didn't feel like a bouquet of lavender had been tied to my face.  In all seriousness, it was a wonderful place to stay and I did enjoy the lavender.  Moreso than that, I enjoyed the extent to which the natives enjoyed their lavendar.  As we drove through the countryside, I saw a farmer strolling though his lavender fields with a rifle in hands, just in case any intruders were trying to steal his crop.  It reminded me of home.

Me at my hobbit house; photo courtesey of/stolen from Callie Feingold

Anyway, first on our itinerary was a stop at Chateau de la Croix Chabrières for a wine tasting.  We toured the wine-making operation, which was quite interesting, before moving inside for the main event.  Unfortunately, my camera was in my backpack under the bus, so I didn't take any pictures.  However, a few kind friends have volunteered to donate some to my/your cause.  As for the wine-tasting, I'm just not cut out for that aspect of life.  I'm not nearly discerning enough to appreciate the subtle differences between types of wine ("Rosé, is that the pink kind?") and therefore I felt ridiculous attempting to smell certain things after carefully swirling my wine as directed by our guide.  Not to mention the fact that people make absolutely ridiculous faces while at a wine-tasting, since you have to swish the wine in your mouth the right way and smell it properly, people have this strange combination of concentration and monkey faces that cannot and should not ever be taken seriously.  I found it impossible not to laugh.  I don't mean to be rude to connaisseurs of wine, I just lack the necessary qualities to fully appreciate it.  Still, it was a lot of fun.  

Saturday, we headed to a small village called Roussillon, which is known for its beautiful ocres - the brownish-reddish pigment of the earth.  It was lovely (there's a surprise...) and the perfect opportunity for me to take pictures with my fully charged camera.  After some picture taking, I accidently dropped my camera on some rocks while someone was handing it back to me.  Much to my dismay, the lens refused to close or retract all the way back.  The screen informed me that I should attempt to restart the camera, which I did.  It then informed me that there was a lens error and could not function.  After futiley trying a few more times to get it to work, I put it back in my pocket and contemplated the value of buying a new camera here or trying to get it fixed or just making do without a camera for the rest of the trip.  At a loss for answers, I put it out of my mind and enjoyed the rest of the day, being sure to ask if others could take a few pictures of me that they could email to me.  We had lunch in a beautiful village called Gordes, where Johnny Depp vacations (no sightings though) and had fun wandering around.  Then we got back on the bus and headed to l'Abbaye de Sénanque - a cistercien abbey built in 1148 and still in residence by monks who have taken a vow of silence. The church was very plain, there was a cross behind the altar and a statue of the Virgin Mary, but that was it.  It was a very interesting tour and very calming to walk through such a quiet and peaceful place, although I can't imagine how difficult it would be to live your life in silence. 

After the tour I waited just outside the giftshop with a few people while some other people were buying things.  I felt my camera in my pocket and pulled it out again while I waited.  I pushed the power button, just like I had been doing all morning to no avail, and voilà, the lens closed and went back in.  Curious, I pushed the power button again, and the lens moved back out to its functioning position, recharged and ready to go!  No scratchs, no blurriness or problems with the images or zooming functions.  Incroyable! Whether it was the soft interior of my sweatshirt pocket or the pure and blessed air of the abbey that did it, I guess I'll never know, but I'll consider it a little miracle and a divine message to take more pictures since I have a working camera. 

The last picture taken before my camera went comatose.  The picture above is the Abbey, the first picture I took after the miraculous recovery.

 A picture of the countryside taken from the bus.  Despite the clouds, we actually had lovely weather.  The wind always blows in Provence which made it a little chilly, but it was much nicer than when we arrived back in Grenoble to 30 degree Farenheit weather.  It appears that autumn has arrived all of a sudden.